Prompts winter weather advisories as cold air moves in Friday night

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Happy astronomical spring, Minnesota. The 

 on Monday. At that point, the sun will be directly over the equator on its gradual path northward into the Northern Hemisphere. 

The sun will reach its peak northward progression on the summer solstice on June 21 this year at 9:57 a.m. On that day, the Twin Cities will see about 15 hours and 36 minutes of daylight! 

Here’s more detail on the equinox from 

The term equinox means equal night, but we’ll get a little more than 12 hours of daylight on Monday. There are a couple of reasons for this.  

First, sunrise and sunset are defined by the upper edge of the sun crossing the horizon. It takes a few minutes for the full disc of the sun to rise and set,. That adds a few extra minutes to our daylight. 

Second, we actually see the sun before it rises and after it sets because the earth’s atmosphere refracts the light and makes it curve. That adds as much as 6 minutes to daylight. In the Twin Cities, we’ll see 12 hours and 8 minutes of daylight Monday.

Again. some more facts from timeandate.com:

Early spring in Minnesota often feels more like late winter. We’ll feel gradually milder temperatures this week. The Twin Cities hit 40 degrees on Sunday. A string of days in the 40s still looks likely this week in the south with mostly 30s up north. 

The next weather system will bring some rain and snow to Minnesota Tuesday night into Wednesday. Right now most forecast models bring a mix of mostly rain with a little slushy snow to the Twin Cities. It looks like mostly slushy snow north of the Twin Cities Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. 

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Global Forecast System model is similar to most that bring a mix of rain and snow Tuesday night into Wednesday. 

Several inches of snow look likely across the northern half of Minnesota by Wednesday.

Saturday looks like the warmest day this week. Temperatures could approach 50 degrees in the southeastern parts of Minnesota. 

The current European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts model sees a high temperature for the Twin Cities on Saturday of 50 degrees.

Weather and Climate News

Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Paul Huttner

Author

We’ll feel gradually milder temperatures this week. The Twin Cities hit 40 degrees on Sunday. A string of days in the 40s still looks likely this week in the south with mostly 30s up north. 

Spring equinox at 4:24 p.m.; gradually milder this week

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